Shadow of a story
by Flipside7
Summary: She was the one that no one had heard about. The one with the destiny hidden, but why? There are a lot of connections being made. The spirits, the avatar and the world are involved, but how? Or was it two involved?
1. Prologue

Okay I'm only going to say this once:

I don't own any of Avatar last airbender in any way in any of the chapters to this story.

Fragment: Well that's a load off my chest, on with the story.

A shadow of a story.

Prologue.

Why had I gotten so angry? I should know better by now. The thought whirled around and around in my head in my semi-conscious state. It was very cold and wet. The only thing that stopped me sinking to the depths of the unknown below was an old, broken barrel. I couldn't open my eyes, my strength had deserted me. All I could do was lay on the barrel waiting. Waiting for the time I could do something…

A giant metal ship sliced slowly through the water. A wise decision in these icy waters. A solder in crimson armour shouted to his crew mates and everyone was suddenly at the side railings of the ship. They were all looking at a motionless figure in the water on a timeworn barrel. When the ship was close enough, a solder climbed down on rope ladders. When he came back on board he wasn't alone. It was a woman. She had silky long hair to her mid back; it was as black as the unreachable depths of the ocean. On her slender figure she was wearing black rags. Her skin as pale as the moon itself.

A kindly old man observed her.

"She is still breathing. We need to get her in the warmth before she dies from the cold."

My vision flickered. There were people around me.

"I don't remember being so close to the tribe…" I thought. My world went black and I knew no more.


	2. Odd

Odd.

The first thing she noticed is that it was warm and comfortable. Something wondrously soft was over her. She snuggled my nose into the fur. As her mind came round she realised something. Icy water wasn't soft or warm. She opened her eyes and wondered if she was still asleep. She was in a metal room on a single bed to the wall. There was the fire insignia tapestry hanging on the opposite wall. Unfortunately she wasn't asleep and she really was on a fire nation ship, the cold floor soon proved that. As the woman stood she realised that most of her clothes had been reduced to rags and her shoes were missing. One question stood out from the rest. How long had she been out? She was ravenous and parched, but that didn't really tell her how long she'd been out. There was a window, well more like a slit, above the red tapestry. She lifted myself up using the ledge, but only got a glimpse. Slowly, she made my way to the bed. Not a good idea to lift yourself when everything is spinning. Well at least she knew she hadn't been out terribly long, not with huge chunks of ice floating about. She was still in the South Pole.

Now to consider her options. She wasn't a prisoner, unless prison cells have dramatically changed. Doubtful. So was she being guarded or not. She slowly and quietly made her way to the door. Putting her ear on the door she listened. Silence. Curiosity got the better of her and she opened the door fractionally. No one was there. She poked her head out. Really, they had no idea when she would wake up and sneak out. Mind you, there was a good chance in bumping into someone while "sneaking out". Apart from that, she would have no clue where she would go to get to the deck. Should she chance it?

Without warning, there were the sounds of footsteps coming from down the corridor. Well there was no choice now. She quickly went to the bed, pulled the blanket over her and closed her eyes. She rolled over facing the wall. There were voices outside the door now, one wasn't happy. There was a hesitation then the door opened. Two sets of footsteps came in. It pays to pay attention. When they were both standing beside her bed, one started talking.

"Hello miss, can you hear me?" It was the voice of an old man. It was vaguely familiar. What should she do? Wake up and see what they want or continue "sleeping"? Maybe she should wake up; they might lead her to the deck. She slowly rolled toward them and opened her eyes. The old man raised his eyebrows in surprise. He had never seen such pale grey eyes. The young man with him was just as startled but recovered his composure quicker.

"Who are you?" the young man barked. Taken aback by this attitude the women sat up straight and faced him indifference.

"I don't see whether that's important." She said coldly. To her satisfaction, he was fuming.

"Now Zuko, that's no way to talk to a lady." said the old man calmly. He turned to the women. "I am Iroh and this is Zuko. We found you in the water as we were passing. You must be hungry, would you like something to eat?" She couldn't kid herself, escaping won't work if she had nothing in her stomach. So she nodded.

"I will bring some soup and perhaps some tea. " Iroh offered.

After that display of genuine kindness she decided to give him her name.

"Thank you. My name is Zhen." She said.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Zhen; I shall send someone with some soup and tea. Perhaps when you are feeling better we can talk." Iroh smiled at her and left, along with Zuko stomping after him.

Zhen lay back with her hands behind her head after Zuko had slammed the door_. How peculiar._ She thought to herself. The old man Iroh, she recalled was part of the fire nations royal family. As far as she knew he was still a general. _Zuko… where have I heard that._ That scar on his face meant something. Then it hit her. He was **prince **Zuko. Well, banished prince anyway. Never did she think she would cross paths with either Zuko or Iroh. Sure she often did "bump" into fire nation solders but never any one from the fire nation with quite as high status. She wondered why he was banished, there were so few reasons for such a harsh punishment and she knew it all too well.

Please review or I'll just continue this in my head. I wrote this because I didn't think there were enough OC fanfics. It would be really good if I got some feedback and anyone who reviews gets a free cyber cookie. :) As for the pairing, I'll leave that for you to guess.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N.**

I need two volunteers to create a character each. One needs to be an earthbender and the other a firebender. Submit your characters in a review. Including name: roughly what their character is like (the rest can be in the story), what they look like and two scenarios. One short scenario of them fighting a fire nation soldier and another short scenario of them have a funny conversation with Zhen (as long as its rated T).

The two people that are selected get to be a part of writing this story and their parts will get the credit they deserve. Let's make this story a good quality adventure/humour. Good luck!


	4. Chapter 4

Moving forward.

As promised, a solder came down with soup and a cup of tea. Zhen was tempted just to throw the soup to the side and focus on the tea. That bowl of salt had nothing on this smooth blended tea. Once she had finished, she placed the tray on the floor beside her bed. Stretched out like a contented cat and laid down relaxed. There must have been something in that tea she decided, she felt warm and tranquil.

Abruptly, she felt the ship heaved forward. Sitting up as if someone had pricked her with a needle she thought,

"_What happened to sailing slowly to avoid getting stuck in those chunks of ice plan" _She immediately got up and looked down the corridor. There were two choices. Left or right. She suddenly heard shouting coming from the left. It sounded like commands of a certain impatient prince. She took the left and soon found the stairs to the deck. It wasn't far after all. There was a beam of white light shooting up to the sky, but as soon as Zhen had laid her eyes on the site it disappeared.

Meanwhile…

A boy lay in her arms. He had the most unusual clothing she had ever seen and a tattoo of a blue arrow on his head. The girl sensibly dressed in warm blue clothes was stunned…

… Back on the ship.

Orders were flying everywhere. They were setting full speed toward where the light had been.

"_What could have caused that light?" _Zhen thought, but her thoughts were soon interrupted by a very annoyed person.

"What are you doing on deck? You had no permission to be out on deck!" Zuko yelled.

"I didn't know I was confined to that room. You didn't say." Zhen said scathingly. She knew that it wouldn't really help her situation but there were more important things to be worried about. Zuko looked ready to burst into flames,

"Go back to the room unless I give you permission to come out!" seethed Zuko. Zhen considered just staying on deck but it would be a pointless thing to fight for, better to wait till they were at the source of the light then come out. Besides, she would probably get bumped around by all the frantic solders. Giving Zuko a cold stare she went back to her room.

Fragment: For those who are going to be in this story, don't worry, I will brief you in how your character gets involved.


	5. Chapter 5

Fragment: Right lines are closed everyone, I don't need any more characters. Enjoy the story.

Karah!

On her way down to her room she came across Iroh.

"Hello Zhen, I was just on my way to see if you were okay and whether you would like some new clothes." He said kindly.

"I'm fine, thank you for the tea it was really nice. Erm… I don't suppose you've got anything that's not red?" Zhen asked.

"Hmm. I might be able to find something. Just out of curiosity why don't you want anything red?" He asked with an innocent look in his eyes.

_Because when I get off this ship I don't want to be attacked anybody I come across. _Zhen thought to herself.

"Well, I… er… just prefer neutral colours." She finished off lamely. Iroh didn't miss what she was saying though.

"Are you planning on leaving us so soon?" He asked. His forwardness surprised her; usually the fire nation weren't so friendly.

"Yes. I am leaving as soon as we reach some solid ground." She decided to be upfront to see his reaction.

"Are you from the southern water tribe then?"

"No." She hadn't belonged to anywhere for quite some time…

"Are you travelling, perhaps to the earth kingdom?" Iroh questioned.

"Yes but I need to find my friend first. We got separated in a snow storm." Zhen didn't know why but she felt she could trust him more than your average fire nationer.

"Well I hope you are reunited. From the speed that we are going, we will reach some ground soon." He said. Zhen just couldn't believe this.

"So you're just going to let me walk off this ship even though I might be your enemy?" she asked astounded.

"Well I'm not just going to let to walk off just like that; its cold out there and you need some clothes. I will just go and see if I can get my hands on some" With that he left Zhen dumbstruck in the corridor. _He's definitely the kindest fire nation person I have ever met _she thought shaking her head.

Not long after a knock came on her door.

"Come in." Zhen said. It was Iroh and he was carrying a bundle of brown clothes.

"They're not the best but they should keep you warm. I couldn't find anything a bit more… feminine." Iroh passed them over to Zhen. There was a pair of black ankle boots. Some black pants and a wrap round brown tunic with a sash to keep it in place. What caught her attention was black jacket stitched with silver thread that came to her knees with fur on the inside. It probably cost a pretty penny.

"I can't take this!" she exclaimed. "I couldn't walk off this ship in good conscience with something so… nice."

"Don't fret so much." He said reassuringly. "It has never been used and soon we will be out of the South Pole. I will leave you now; we will be at the southern water tribe soon"

"Why are you stopping at the southern water tribe?" Zhen asked curiously.

"My nephew believes the avatar may be there. He thinks that the bright light we saw earlier was from the avatar and has seen someone who may be the avatar." Iroh said solemnly.

"But I thought the avatar died and was never reborn." She queried.

"Nobody knows whether or not the avatar is alive." He said mysteriously. "Well I hope you have a safe trip and find your friend. Maybe our paths will cross again." He said on a happier tone. With that he left the room. Zhen smiled to herself. It would be nice to meet him again.

Karah's P.O.V.

Karah stumbled through the snowy terrain, looking for any signs of life. Than. at long last, she saw smoke rising in the distance. WIth a newfound energy, she ran through the snow as long as she could. Thankfully, the tiny village was in a distance that she could manage. As she approached the village, she saw a few people walking around and doing everyday things. She looked around until she saw a girl around her age with tan skin, dark brown hair, and blue eyes.

"Excuse me? Uh... miss?" Karah said, walking up to her.

"Um, hi... where did you come from...?" Said the girl.

"My friend and I came to the south pole to visit. She's always wanted to come here."

"Well... where's your friend?"

"We got split up during a storm. I haven't seen her since."

"I'm so sorry! My name's Katara bye the way."

"I'm Karah."

"Hi, Karah. Come with me, I'll get you some warm clothes and some food. You can stay here for the night and if your friend doesn't show up by then, we can send out a search party."

"Oh, I'm sure that's not necessary. Zhen is a water-bender, she should be able to take care of herself."

"Well at least stay here for the night. just incase... Zhen, right?... shows up."

"Alright. Thank you for being so kind."

Katara and Karah walked into the Katara's tent. Karah sat down while Katara looked through her things to try to find something for Karah to wear. Karah noticed a boy, around the age of twelve, laying unconcious. He had a strange tattoo in the shape of an arrow on his forehead, hands and feet.

"So... Are you a bender?" Karah asked.

"Yeah, I'm a waterbender. I can't do very much though, I'm the only one in my tribe, so there's no one to teach me. what about you?"

"I don't know what you'll say if I told you."

"I promise I won't do anything or freak out in anyway. No matter what."

"Okay, well first off, I don't believe in the war. At all. And neither did my adopted parents."

"Go on..."

"I'm a firebender. But not a bad one! My adopted parents and I lived in the fire nation most of my life. Then, they got accused of treason because they didn't support the war. I was raised not believing in the war."

"So... seriously...? You;re a firebender?"

Karah lit a small flame in the palm of her hand to show Katara. She still didn't freak out very much though, she was just surprised more than anything. Karah quickly put out the flame when she heard the curtain rustle at the entrance.

"Katara, the fire nation's coming." said a boy a year or two older than Karah.

"What?"

"I told you he was a spy Katara! He signaled the Fire Nation!"

"He's not a spy Sokka! He's just a boy! Gosh, Sokka, you're so paranoid!"

Sokka walked back out of the tent, angered. Katara and Karah followed close behind and saw a large metal ship docking on the village and destroying a poorly made watch tower. The ramp was lowered and Prince Zuko emerged. Karah looked up at him in distaste as he walked down the ramp. Out of the corner of her eye, Karah saw Sokka run up to try and attack Zuko, failing miserably. But at the same time, she saw a figure peering out of the ship. Zhen.

A/N: That's all for now readers! We will try to update soon. Many thanks to **Twicullenfan96! **(I know her real name, he he he…)


	6. Chapter 6

A little bit of girl power.

Zhen P.O.V.

Whilst the men were all preoccupied with the fight, which was typical in Zhen's opinion, she used the opportunity to sneak down to the ramp leading down to the village. Poking her head out, she saw Zuko fighting a water tribe warrior and winning. Zhen's fists clenched as her blood began to boil. How dare this arrogant prince take on a helpless village? Looking round she saw that the village, well if there really was enough there to be a village, many of them were women or children. Where were the men? Something else caught her eye as she scanned the village. It was Karah. Regret replaced her boiling rage. Why had she lost her temper over something so small? Their boat was destroyed from the fight, it's better to bend water and fire on land if you're gonna get into a fight. Just goes to show what a good cup of tea can do to lift your mood. At least Karah was safe and not in a lionwhales stomach. Hearing someone scream Zhen bought her attention back as Zuko handled an elderly lady shouting something. Zhen rolled her eyes.

_Oh give it a rest _she thought _she's just an old lady! _It was time to stand up to this selfish prince. Zhen managed to sneak down the ramp unnoticed by the prince. Finally, she had a good connection to her element. She glanced at Karah. Her eyes sparkling mischievously as they always did when she was about to get in a scrap. Taking her stance and breathing deeply. Flicking her wrist, the snow turned to water and wrapped it around Zuko's leg. Most of the village were now staring at her, even Sokka. Zuko noticed the different tension in the air and turned towards Zhen. However Zhen was too quick for him. With a sharp sweep of her arm the prince was pulled down and dragged a good ten meters across the snow. Spitting out snow Zuko furiously glared at Zhen.

"YOU!" He shouted. Zhen mockingly curtsied,

"The one and only." She said cheerfully.

"Guards, arrest her." He said starting to stand with a finger pointing at her.

_Finally, some action! _Zhen thought. She spread out her arms and fingers, ready for anything.

Karah's P.O.V.

Karah couldn't believe it when she saw Zhen in Zuko's ship. She was so glad that Zhen was okay and not still out there alone in the cold. She stood there, mouth open wide in shock. She didn't react to anything else, even as Zuko grabbed an elderly lady. She watched as Zhen emerged from the ship, effortlessly sneaking behind Prince Zuko. Zhen looked at Karah, her eyes having a mischievous look to them. Karah smirked, she knew Zhen well enough to know what she was going to do next. Zhen bended some water around Zuko's leg and pulled him a good distance across the snow. Karah stood there wondering if she should jump in and help. She heard Zuko shout and Zhen reply with a sarcastic remark.

"Guards, arrest her." Zuko shouted.

Karah figured that was a good time to join in. All around her, chaos broke loose. She noticed the Water Tribe boy, Sokka, and Katara fighting with one of the guards. She ran up to one of the guards and kicked him in the head. It didn't hurt him, but it did catch his attention. The guard started to fire bend, but she dodged his attacks. After a few more advances on his part, she decided that if she didn't start to fire bend, she was going to lose this fight. She sent a few fireballs his way, but they didn't affect the guard at all. She kicked in a slicing motion, sending more fire his way. That made the guard stumble. Karah got low on the ground and kicked some more fire towards his feet, which made him lose his balance and fall. Karah kicked his head, hard, which knocked him out. Suddenly, Karah felt her feet being frozen to the ground, causing her to become unbalanced and fall to the ground. Afterwards, her hands were frozen too. She knew there were only two people here who could have done that, Zhen and Katara. She glanced around. Zhen was in her own fight with Prince Zuko, and Katara was looking directly at her.

"What the heck, Katara! I'm on your side!" Karah yelled.

"No, you're not. You're a firebender, so you are definitely NOT on my side!" Katara yelled back.

"I just knocked a guard out! If I wasn't on your side, would I have done that?"

"You only did that because they were going to arrest that girl, who, if I'm correct, is your missing friend!"

Karah quickly melted the bindings on her hands and feet as she stood up.

"Look, I get it," Karah said as she walked closer. "the Fire Nation did some bad things over the last hundred years and I'm a fire-bender. But not everyone from the Fire Nation is bad, so don't you DARE accuse me of being on their side! They took my parents away and I'm next! Why do you think I left? I have no one else but Zhen! If I had anyone else, I would stay in the Fire Nation living a happy, peaceful life. But instead, I have to go out there and hope they don't catch me."

I walked away from Katara and joined Zhen in fighting Zuko. Thank God he didn't know who I was. 

Zhen P.O.V.

The guards had been thankfully "entertained" by two of the water tribe and Karah. Which left her with pretty boy. _Wonderful _Zhen thought to herself dimly. By the looks of him, she wouldn't be surprised if he burst into flames with the hard glare he was giving her. Obviously not impressed that he had no guards for back up. Both Zhen and Zuko took their fighting positions.

"Let's see how well the fire nation train their prince." Mocked Zhen.

"More than you, peasant!" he retorted.

"Tsk tsk tsk" said Zhen waving her finger, "They certainly teach you _very _restrictedly on history, I suppose you only know your own nation's history"

Zuko looked momentarily confused then irritated shouting,

"Enough talking!" He let out a series of fireballs from his fists. Zhen quickly brought the snow at her feet up in front of her, bending backwards to keep a safe distance to the heat. Pulling up more snow she sent a huge turbine straight at him. He dived out of the way, growling as he got up again. He raised his leg and brought it down to the floor, sending a wave of fire to Zhen. Zhen rapidly started spinning with snow wrapped around her as a shield. She spun towards Zuko through the fire and turned the shield into a whip. A technique not commonly known. Zuko was sent flying back as the whip went across his chest leaving a wide scratch across his armour. Quickly regaining his footing, he swiftly closed the gap between them aiming to punch a torrent of fire directly at Zhen. Zhen swiftly pushed his arm upwards with the back of her wrist. Redirecting the fire to above her. They started fighting hand to hand combat. Zhen could feel the heat from his flames drying her skin as she narrowly avoided his fiery punches. Zuko could feel the chill coming from the ice she bended to block his fire and was directed at him as well through her own attack. They parted as both had attacked at once, sending them both stumbling back. Zhen saw Karah heading her way. Relief washed over her seeing that she was fine and she was coming to help. Zuko took this distraction to grab hold of Zhen, placing a fist of fire close to Zhen's head and one hand on her shoulder. Of all of the times she had lost a battle this was her lowest method of being defeated. How could she possibly have let this happen? She was now at the mercy of her enemy, a position that she was not accustom to. _If I get out of this _she thought _I will never be able to live this down. I must pay more attention in battle. _Zuko's voice was loud in her right ear,

"Give me the avatar and nobody gets hurt." Zhen weighed her chances on how bad the burn would be if she struck him. There was a good possibility that she would be knocked out and shortly die. _So much for being optimistic _she thought cynically. For once there was literally nothing she could do but hope no one got hurt.

Bum bum bum! Just love a cliff hanger. What will happen to our two adventurers? Will Katara slice Karah up and will Zuko fry Zhen's brain. Find out in the next chapter.


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